E138 



A SCALE FOR MEASURING THE 

QUALITY OF HANDWRITING 

OF ADULTS 

LEONARD P. AYRES, Ph.D. 




Division of Education 

Russell Sage Foundation 

130 East Twenty-second Street, New York City 



Price 5 Cents 



Monograph 



vt> 









A Scale for Measuring the Quality of Hand- 
writing of Adults 

In June, 1914, the Municipal Civil Service Commission of 
New York City requested the Division of Education of the 
Russell Sage Foundation to aid in the development of some means 
of measuring the quality of handwriting of the candidates for 
positions in the city's service. After considerable preliminary 
experimenting, the Division of Education undertook the prepara- 
tion of a scale for measuring the quality of handwriting of adults 
and actively began work on the project in October. This report 
presents the scale which has been produced. 

The scale is a sheet of paper measuring nine by 36 inches and 
having eight divisions from end to end. In each division samples 
of handwriting are reproduced. Proceeding from left to right 
along the strip, these samples are of progressively better quality 
so that they range by equal gradations from samples of very poor 
writing at the left end, to those of fair quality in the middle, and 
to writings of excellent quality at the extreme right end of the 
strip. 

The samples of writing reproduced in each of the eight divisions 
are of such qualities that each one is as much better than the one 
in the preceding division as that is better than the one in the next 
division to the left. That is to say, all of the steps in quality 
are approximately equal. These samples have been assigned the 
values 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90. 

In order to measure the quality of any given sample of hand- 
writing, all that is necessary is to slide it along the scale until 
one finds a writing of similar quality. By looking at the top of 
the scale the number corresponding to this quality will be found 
and this number represents the value of the writing being meas- 
ured. 

To facilitate this measuring, there have been reproduced in 
each of the eight divisions samples of vertical, medium slant, and 
extreme slant writing, all three of equal value. Thus the sample 
being measured may be compared with samples on the scale of 

3 



the corresponding style of slant. The three slants used on the 
scale include over 95 per cent of the ordinary writings of adults. 
To aid in comparison between the writings being measured and 
the writings on the scale, the reproductions have been printed in 
dark blue ink which closely corresponds in color to the ink most 
commonly used in writing. 

Determining the Value of Samples 
The value of the samples reproduced at each of the eight points 
on the scale has been determined by means of a scale for measur- 
ing the quality of children's handwriting which was published by 
the Division of Education in 191 2.* This earlier scale was the 
product of a study of the legibility of 1,578 samples of the hand- 
writing of children of the upper elementary grades of 40 school 
systems in 38 states. The degree of legibility of the samples was 
ascertained by a series of 15,780 accurately timed readings made 
by 10 paid investigators. The quality of each sample of writing 
was determined by its degree of legibility as shown by these 
readings, the assumption being that those writings are best for 
practical purposes which can be most easily read. 

The investigation demonstrated that as the legibility of hand- 
writings increases, their appearance improves. Thus in the case 
of the present scale, as one proceeds from left to right, the samples 
of handwriting are progressively of increasing legibility and they 
are also of progressively improved appearance. Those at the 
extreme left end are relatively illegible and far from good-looking, 
while those at the other extreme are both highly legible and very 
good-looking. It is not always true, however, that those of good 
appearance are the most legible. The rule does not always 
work both ways. 

Analysis of good-looking writings of low degree of legibility 
shows that their most common shortcoming is the crowding to- 
gether of the words on the line. Probably the characteristic 
second in importance in making for illegibility is too close spacing 
between the lines. Another common fault of good-looking writ- 
ings that are difficult to read is the breaking which results from 
lifting the pen in the middle of words in such a way as to make one 
word look at first glance like two words. The absence of dots 

* A Scale for Measuring the Quality of Handwriting of School Children, 
16 pp. 1912. Division of Education, Russell Sage Foundation, 130 East 
22nd Street, New York City. 



over the i's and crosses on the t's is also a common and important 
shortcoming of good-looking writings that are difficult to read. 

The practical utility of legibility as a criterion for judging the 
merit or value of handwritings has been well illustrated by the 
extensive and varied classroom use of the scale for measuring the 
quality of children's handwriting. In the three years since this 
earlier scale was published, it has been widely tested in school 
systems throughout the country. It has run through six edi- 
tions, aggregating more than 16,000 copies, and some faults 
brought to light by the tests of practical application have been 
remedied as the successive editions have appeared. 

Developing the New Scale from the Old One 
In selecting the individual samples to be reproduced on the 
new scale, three objects were steadfastly sought. The first was 
to select samples of such qualities that the progressive steps in 
value from poorest to best should be equal as measured by the 
steps of the former scale. The second was to select the three- 
samples of vertical, medium slant, and extreme slant at each 
point so that they should all be of equal value. The third object 
was to select for all the samples at all of the points, writings of a 
character and general appearance commonly met with among the 
writings of adults, and carefully to avoid reproducing writings 
of the requisite value but of unusual appearance. 

It is certain that many who use the scale will be of the opinion 
that these results have not been successfully attained, but it is 
probable that these critics could not agree among themselves 
as to just which specimens are too good or too poor for the posi- 
tions they occupy on the scale. After all of the samples had 
been chosen for the final copy, the scale was submitted separately 
to each of the 10 judges who had participated in its develop- 
ment with the request that he or she indicate any sample of 
writing that seemed to be of too good or too poor a quality for 
the position it occupied. The result was that each of the 10 
judges indicated such a sample which seemed to be of the wrong 
quality but said that all the rest of the samples were well chosen 
and that little fault could be found with them. Each one located 
the weak spot at a different point. The 10 judges chose 10 
different samples which they thought were too good or too poor 
for their positions. This evidence of collective agreement com- 
bined with individual disagreement well illustrates the value of 
objective means of measurement. 



It might seem that to select 24 samples of handwriting that 
would conform to these specifications would be a relatively simple 
task, but it proved instead to be a long and difficult one. 

Samples of handwi^iting were first secured from the correspon- 
dence files of the Municipal Civil Service Commission and those 
of the Russell Sage Foundation. These were rated by 10 people 
of whom nine are employees of the Foundation and the tenth 
Anna M. Crocker, an experienced examiner in the employ of the 
Civil Service Commission and detailed by that body to assist in 
the work. Of these 10 judges, six may fairly be considered as 
expert in judging the quality of handwriting. The ratings of the 
samples were made by means of the old scale. 

The first work consisted in the careful rating of 100 samples. 
It at once developed that a much wider range of qualities and 
styles would be required, and the number of samples from the 
files of the two organizations was accordingly increased to 1,000. 
When these had been rated, it was found that samples of all the 
desired qualities had been secured but that some of them were 
too unusual in general appearance to be satisfactory candidates 
for reproduction on the final scale. 

The number of samples was accordingly further increased from 
the files and by securing writings from the Bushwick High 
School, the Commercial High School, and the Heffley Institute 
of Brooklyn, the Wood's Business School of New York City, the 
Eastman Business College of Poughkeepsie, and from the office 
of the correspondence editor of the New York Globe. The total 
number of samples of writing thus collected and used in making 
the new scale was 2,817. Of the 24 samples finally selected and 
reproduced on the printed scale, 13 are from the files of the Civil 
Service Commission, seven from those of the Foundation, two 
from the correspondence of the Globe, and two were written by 
teachers in the schools. 

Classification by Style 
As in the investigation which produced the earlier scale, so in 
the present study, experiments were made in classifying the 
samples according to the style of the letters. The first attempt 
was to classify the writings according to the heaviness or thick- 
ness of the lines used in forming them. This was found to be im- 
practicable. Among each hundred samples the readers selected 
only three or four as being written with notably light lines and 
only four or five as being written with distinctly heavy strokes. 



As in the earlier study, an attempt was made to classify the 
samples as being written with large, flowing letters, medium sized 
ones, or small, compact letters. Large variations in the size of 
the letters were found, but less than lo per cent of the whole 
number of samples could be classified as written in letters either 
notably large and flowing, or small and compact. A similar result 
was obtained when the attempt was made to classify the writings 
according as the letters were characteristically angular or circular. 

The final solution came through basing the classification of 
style on the slant of the letters. Five classes were defined by 
sorting the samples into groups termed "vertical", "medium 
slant", "extreme slant", "backhand", and "mixed". 

On the basis of these groupings, "vertical writing" was defined 
as writing in which the characteristic slant lay between 90° 
and 80° from the horizontal. The range of "medium slant" 
was defined as between 80° and 55°, and "extreme slant" was 
defined as ranging from 55° downward. "Backhand" was 
defined as being any writing in which the characteristic slant of 
the letters was to the left of vertical, and "mixed" was a writing 
composed of two or more styles. For purposes of convenient 
classification, vertical writing was designated as "A", medium 
slant as "B", extreme slant as "C", backhand as "D", and 
mixed as "E". 

On the basis of this classification, protractors were constructed 
of transparent celluloid and with their aid each of the 2,817 
samples was rated on the basis of the slant of the letters. Since 
the same process was followed and the same criteria used in 
classifying the samples of children's handwriting in the earlier 
investigation, it is interesting to compare the two sets of results. 
These two sets of classification of writing according to slant are 
as follows: 





Children's writings 


Adult writings 


Slant 


Number 


Per cent 


Number 


Per cent 


Class A (vertical) 

Class B (medium slant) 

Class C (extreme slant) 

Class D (backhand) 

Class E (mixed slants) 


255 

670 

580 

27 

46 


16.2 

42-5 

36.7 

1-7 

2.9 


262 

1,830 

585 

63 

77 


9-3 

65.0 

20.8 

2.2 

2.7 


Total 


1.578 


lOO.O 


2,817 100. 



Equal Steps on the Scale 

As has already been explained, the steps on the new scale were 
determined by measuring the qualities of the samples of adult 
writing by means of the scale for children's writing. The quality 
of the writing located at each of the eight points on that scale 
was determined by calculations based on the comparative degree 
of legibility of the different samples as indicated by the rate at 
which they could be read by lo readers. The final result was a 
scale objectively representing seven-tenths of the range of quality 
of children's writing from a theoretic zero, which would be a 
quality so very bad as to verge on complete illegibility, to a 
theoretic lOO, which would be so excellent as to approximate a 
copy-book standard. On this scale quality 50 represents the 
average quality of writings found in the upper grammar grades 
of our city school systems and in a very real sense quality 60 is 
twice as good as quality 30, while quality 40 is only half as good 
as quality 80. 

In possessing this characteristic of representing relationships 
in the same way that numbers in ordinary arithmetic represent 
relationship, the values on the scales differ from the per cents 
usually given as school marks or as marks in rating papers sub- 
mitted to Civil Service Commissions and other examining boards. 
In ordinary school marking, 50 does not represent work only five- 
ninths as good as another piece of work which is marked 90. 

In most schools, colleges, and examining boards, a mark of 50 
is but seldom given. In practice the marks given are apt to 
range from something less than 100, which represents, not per- 
fection, but rather the accomplishment of the best child in the 
class, or the most proficient candidate, down to about 60, which 
represents failure. The part of the marking scale from 60 down 
to zero is but little used except for marking such work as that in 
spelling and arithmetic and even then the marks usually do not 
represent what they appear to. 

Relation of Scale Ratings to Civil Service Ratings 
Since the ratings on the scale represent seven out of 10 equal 
steps in progression from writings of zero quality, or approxi- 
mately no value, to those of 50, or average quality, to those of 
100 quality, or approximate perfection, and since ordinary Civil 
Service ratings represent something very different, an attempt 



\ I 



MEASURING SCALE FOR ADULT HANDWRITING 



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Russell Sage Foundation. New York City 

Division of Education 

Leonard P. Ayres. Ph.D., Director 



To measure the quzJity of a sample of handwriting slide it along the scale until 
a writing of corresponding quality is found. The number in black at the top 
of the sceJe above this represents the value of the writing being measured. 



9 

was made to find out what relationship existed between the two 
sets of ratings. By comparing the ratings given to writings by 
the Civil Service examiners and the ratings of the same writings 
as shown by the use of the measuring scale, it was found that the 
range from 20 to 90 on the scale was approximately equal to that 
from 60 to 95 in the markings given by the examiners before the 
scale had been developed. The correspondence at each point 
was about as follows: 

Quality as rated Quality as rated 

by scale by examiners 

20 60 

30 65 

40 70 

50 75 

60 80 

70 85 

80 90 

90 95 

In order to make the use of the scale possible without a radical 
readjustment of the marking system now in use in the offices of 
the Commission, it was necessary to indicate on the scale the 
values as commonly rated by the examiners as well as those as 
determined by the investigation which produced the scale. Ac- 
cordingly there has been entered in the printed scale above each 
set of samples the number representing the quality according to 
the plan followed in the earlier scale, and in addition there is 
printed in smaller figures at the left the quality according to the 
marking practice of the Civil Service Commission. 



The Use of the Scale 

In scoring samples of handwriting, two methods are in common 
use. The first is for the scorer to compare each sample with the 
scale, decide the value of the handwriting, and mark the paper 
accordingly. 

The second and better method is for the scorer to sort into 
separate piles all of the papers to be rated, putting in one pile 
those which he judges to be of quality 20, in another those judged 
as of quality 30, and so on for all the different qualities. He 
then carefully compares all of the papers in each pile with each 
other and with the samples of that value reproduced on the scale 
so as to make sure that he has not included in the pile any samples 
that might more justly be assigned to the next higher or lower 



10 

piles. This second method, while involving more work than the 
first, insures better results. 

Still more trustworthy results can be secured without the ex- 
penditure of an unreasonable amount of time by having the scor- 
ing done by three persons simultaneously, of whom at least two 
must agree before the sample being judged is assigned a rating. 
Three people working together may use either of the two methods 
described above. Results so obtained are not so accurate as 
they would be if three or more judges rated all of the papers in- 
dependently and the several sets of ratings were then combined 
so as to find their central tendency. On the other hand, by doing 
the work simultaneously, the results are far more rapidly ob- 
tained and are not greatly different in accuracy from what they 
would be if the ratings were made independently. 



The Value of the Scale 

It is hoped that the new scale will prove of value not only to 
the New York Municipal Civil Service Commission, but to other 
civil service commissions and examining boards, and to teachers 
who wish to measure the quality of adult handwriting. The 
purpose in developing it has been to produce a scale by which to 
determine how much better or worse one sample of writing is than 
another sample, to furnish a means whereby nearly uniform 
judgments may be made by the same examiner at different times, 
and to offer an instrument which will enable different people to 
proceed on a uniform basis in judging the quality of writing. 

Persons using the scale must not expect that its use will insure 
uniformity in judgments derived through it. Three judges may 
rate a sample of handwriting which is of about average quality at 
40, 50, and 60 respectively. Again, it is quite possible that one 
examiner will rate a sample as of quality 50 the first time that he 
examines it, and at some subsequent time may rate it at 60. The 
use of the scale does not and cannot guarantee uniformity. It 
will, however, be found that the disagreements arising when the 
scale is used to measure handwriting will be uniformly less than 
the disagreements will be when no scale is used. 

It must be remembered that not only will differences such as 
those mentioned above be brought to light through using the 
scale, but that there are other differences which exist and which 
the scale will reveal. For example, the handwriting in the first 



II 



few lines of the ordinary letter is commonly of better quality 
than that of the body of the letter by from some five to lo 
points as measured by this scale. In a similar way the same 
person will commonly produce handwriting of a better quality 
when writing a somewhat formal letter or examination paper 
than he will when making memoranda for his own use. This 
range of quality in the handwritings of the same individual is 
usually more than lo points on the scale and not infrequently as 
much as 20, 30, or even 40 points. 

In common with all measuring instruments, the scale for 
measuring the quality of handwriting falls short of insuring exact 
and uniform results, and in common with all measuring instru- 
ments it makes possible more exact and more uniform decisions 
than can be arrived at without measuring. 




Pamphlet Publications of the Division v.i ®,^S?i.c7«5x7^'^ ^ 

(Numbers omitted are out of print) 

No. 6i. The Relation of Physical Defects to School Progress. 

9 pp. Price, 5 cts. 
No. 77. Why 250,000 Children Quit School. 30 pp. Price, 5 cts. 
No. 94. Measurements as Applied to School Hygiene. 7 pp. 

Price, 5 cts. 
No. 96. The New Attitude of the School Towards the Health 

of the Child. 8 pp. Price, 5 cts. 
No. loi. What American Cities Are Doing for the Health of 

School Children. 44 pp. Price, 15 cts. 
No. 107. The Binet-Simon Measuring Scale for Intelligence: 
Some Criticisms and Suggestions. 12 pp. Price, 5 cts. 
No. 108. The Identification of the Misfit Child. 11 pp. Price, 

sets. 
No. no. The Relative Responsibility of School and Society for 

The Over-Age Child. 6 pp. Price, 5 cts. 
No. III. The Money Cost of Repetition Versus the Money 

Saving Through Acceleration.^ 12 pp. Price, 5 cts. 

No. 112. The Relation Between Entering Age and Subsequent 

Progress Among School Children. 9 pp. Price, 5 cts. 

No. 113. A Scale for Measuring the Quality of Handwriting of 

School Children. 16 pp. Report, 5 cts. Scale, 5 cts. 

No.;ii6. The Measurement of Educational Processes and 

Products. 9 pp. Price, 5 cts. 
No. E 124. A Comparative Study of Public School Systems i^ 

the Forty-Eight States. 32 pp. Price, 15 cts. 
No. E 128. Psychological Tests in Vocational Guidance. 6 pp. 

Price, 5 cts. 
No. E 130. The Effect of Promotion Rates on School Efficiency. 

12 pp. Price, 5 cts. 
No. E 132. Fire Protection in Public Schools. 16 pp. Price, 

ID cts. 
No. E 134. Open Air Schools. 16 pp. Price, 10 cts. 
No. E 135. Some Conditions Affecting Problems of Industrial 
Education in 78 American School Systems. 24 pp. 
Price, 5 cts. 
No. E 136. Constant and Variable Occupations and Their 
Bearing on Problems of Vocational Education. 12 
pp. Price, 5 cts. 
No. E 137. A Survey of the Public Schools of Springfield, 

Illinois. 160 pp. Price, 25 cts. 
No. E 138. A Scale for Measuring the Quality of Handwriting of 

Adults. II pp. Report, 5 cts. Scale, 5 cts. 
Bulletin E. The Division of Education of the Russell Sage Foun- 
dation. 8 pp. No charge. 






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Russell Sage Foundation, New York City 

Division of Education 

Leonard P. Ayres. Ph.D.. Associate Director 



To measure the quality of a sample of handwriting slide it along the scale until 
a ^vriting of corresponding quality is found. The number in black at the top 
of the scale above this represents the value of the writing being measured. 



l7,!,?,f^;!^.'^Y OF CONGRESS 



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HoUinger Corp. 
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